When I finally crawl out of my cocoon I fear Neil's been up awhile and waiting for me. I slept pretty well and it may have been kind of late, judging from the ample daylight. Nope. He tried sleeping in his gear with little success. There was ice on the bike seats this morning and he wasn't a whole lot warmer than that overnight. Come to think of it, I was in my +15 degree bag with my fleece jacket and pretty comfortable and if he was in a 30 degree bag (recall that our "plan" was Moab in September, and warm) he surely must have frozen his butt off last night.

At any rate, we weren't eaten by bears..

Neil ponders the map, the road ahead and the inevitability of a long ride home after a quick tour of Yellowstone.

At least he's pondering it on something other than an empty stomach..

We discuss what we'd like to see and where we'd like to go, and figure this is a reasonable time to split so he can be home on schedule. It's been great riding together and we knew this day was coming.

Neil put in 700+ miles after scooting through the East side of Yellowstone, and I looped through the West side..

Jazz Hands

Some ways into Yellowstone I had the epiphany that I wasn't going to ride any sand for at least a couple of days, so I stopped to lube the chain..

Beautiful park with so much to see, but traffic was heavy enough that I didn't stop for pictures until almost West Yellowstone..

Lunch is a Snickers bar and some Gatorade near Butte, then more chasing the sun westward down the slab..

I have a destination in mind, but I have no idea where. So I keep going..